“Hillary Clinton surged the trade deficit with China 40 percent as Secretary of State, costing Americans millions of jobs.”
— Donald Trump
in a tweet on June 21
Trump tweeted, “Hillary Clinton surged the trade deficit with China 40 percent as Secretary of State, costing Americans millions of jobs.”
Trump is largely accurate about the 40 percent bump, though that number is somewhat cherry-picked, and he has a point that some – though not all – estimates suggest that trade with China has resulted in millions of job losses.
However, Trump’s strong words of blame for Clinton overplays the role she had in this process. Not only do other administration players have a bigger role in setting trade policy, but the growth in the trade deficit predates the Obama administration and has a lot to do with factors that any administration would have little control over. We rate the statement Mostly False.